What's going on with me: Let's get real.
It has been regretfully long since I've posted anything here or on THF. Though, I've had a lot going on. I took 19 hours this last semester while working 25 hours a week. But, it all paid off because I graduated on May 12th and today I just finished my last day of work as a nanny. :D
I'm taking the summer off but not for an exciting reason such as vacation or to do literally nothing but laze about by the pool. Instead I'm having a much anticipated and necessary surgery on my jaw. It's a long and boring story but it all stems down to the fact that I've had an auto-immune disease since I was 13. I'm 22 now and though I'm in remission from the disease one of the after-effects is that I have severe arthritis in my jaw. As you can imagine, it puts me in pretty intense pain and unfortunately has worn the jaw bone and joint down on the right side immensely.
All of this isn't something I really talk about because I made a decision early on as a young teenager that I wouldn't let my disease define me or interfere with how I want to live my life. That, and I find that people tend to look at me differently and even pity me when they hear my story. I swear I'm normal, I just have a few unpleasant things that I deal with and keep a positive attitude about.
I spent a good amount of the active years of my disease in a near state of denial that anything was even happening to me. Being a teenager is rough to begin with, and having an additional amount of otherness put on you isn't easy. But now, I find that it is much easier to just be upfront instead of secretive. I have no qualms sharing these personal things about me because maybe, just maybe, someone else can relate. I have no doubts that I'm a better, stronger, and more open person now because of my disease. I also have the ability to withstand nearly any amount of pain, which is nice when I stub my toe or hit my funny bone because I don't even flinch. Haha.
My surgery is this coming Wednesday, June 6th and what's happening is I'm getting my right jaw bone and joint replaced completely with titanium ones. I will be humanoid, ladies and gents. Or, I guess just gent (Kit). :D It's a 10 hour surgery so I'll have to be in the ICU for a night and day after, then I'll be in the hospital for 2-3 days, after which I'll get to go home and recover. It will probably be about 3 weeks before I'm lucid enough to be around on the internets. Oh and, I can't chew anything for 4 months. That's the part I'm really not looking forward to. I love food, you guys. ;~;
I have family and friends to take care of me but I just wanted to let you all know where I'll be because you are all so lovely and I care about you. I'm going to have my mom text Kit (@leichenradger) so if you want to know how I am, ask that cutie pie face. Who knows, maybe you'll get a tweet from me while I'm on high doses of pain killers. That could be fun!
I loooove you all and I hope to be able to be back to normal with posting when I recover enough. Take care and have a wonderful first part of the summer. There's a girl in Texas who is thinking about you all. <3